


past a new time and space (it’s just us two)

by luxeme



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Space, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 03:13:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29378322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luxeme/pseuds/luxeme
Summary: Jinsol cranes her neck to face Jungeun. “Why Aeolia?”Jungeun scratches the underside of her wrist. “You can come down, if you’d like. When we get there,” she tells them. “You’ll see.”
Relationships: Ha Sooyoung | Yves & Kim Jungeun | Kim Lip, Ha Sooyoung | Yves/Jung Jinsol | Jinsoul, Kim Jiwoo | Chuu/Kim Jungeun | Kim Lip
Comments: 11
Kudos: 68
Collections: backup dancers ficmix exchange





	past a new time and space (it’s just us two)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dimsum](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dimsum/gifts).
  * Inspired by [distance modulus](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24734968) by [fenying](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fenying/pseuds/fenying). 



> 2/2 for hui too! and i just think dis mod was a cultural reset for everyone everywhere. i’m sorry for the lack of space/scifi here in general, i’m quite incapable of writing plots aside from And Then They Were Girlfriends. apologies too for all the chuulip brainrot that i’ve been putting u thru, rip. i just thought i’d give it a go :D 

  
  
  


“Why is course set for Aeolia?”

Jungeun looks up to see who’d asked. 

There’s Jinsol hovering around Sooyoung—like she always does, nowadays, little satellite in orbit. They’re at the controls of the ship, wrinkle between Jinsol’s brows as she looks at the navigation screen. 

“Mixolydia’s much nearer,” she adds. 

“We know,” Sooyoung replies. “It’s just—”

“Oh, my god. _Oh, my god_.” Heejin, seemingly out of nowhere, materialises at Jinsol’s side, shaking her shoulder. “This was literally my favourite thing to happen before Sooyoung broke you out. You have to—Hyunjin, a pen, please.”

As it turns out, Hyunjin’s here, too. She hands Heejin one and Heejin uses it to draw a straight line from her left eyebrow to her left cheek, crude imitation of Jungeun’s scar. 

Hyunjin straightens her back. Tilts her head up. “Name your price,” she says, slowly, airily—in Vivi’s manner of speech. 

Heejin runs her hand through her hair and sharpens her gaze. “Twenty thousand. Negotiable.”

Jungeun rolls her eyes. 

“That’s—” Hyunjin puts a hand to her chest. Flutters her lashes. “That’s way lower than the rate we expected—”

“That’s the negotiable part,” Heejin says. Puts her hand on her hip, shifts her weight. “My non-negotiable is that our first stop after all this is done is Aeolia.”

“Aeolia?” Hyunjin raises a brow. “Why Aeolia?”

Heejin sets her mouth in a line. “Why do you need to know?”

It’s a bit too dramatic of a reenactment, Jungeun thinks. 

“Fine,” Hyunjin—or Vivi—relents. “Twenty thousand and Aeolia.”

They hold their gazes for a few moments, before Heejin flairs out her hand with a, “And _scene_.” They both bow, with only a stray clap from Sooyoung. 

Jinsol cranes her neck to face Jungeun. “Why Aeolia?”

Jungeun scratches the underside of her wrist. “You can come down, if you’d like. When we get there,” she tells them. “You’ll see.”

  
  
  


They only warp intermittently. 

Jungeun doesn’t mind—she’s not in a hurry. There’s only so much fuel to spare, anyway, after what they’ve all been through. But with only waiting left to do, sleep doesn’t come easy: lack of light gnaws at her, stubborn. 

She gets up and heads out of her room. There’s a dog-eared novel on the table by the window, Jungeun remembers, thinks it’s Hyejoo’s. Hyejoo—for all her brilliant, technical intelligence—has an odd collection of analog objects, and Jungeun thinks maybe it can be the distraction she needs. 

But Jungeun turns the corner, and beside the table: a long couch. Jinsol sprawled on it, asleep—Sooyoung’s head resting on her chest. Saviours of the multiverse carving out a little time for themselves. 

Jungeun remembers the first time she saw it on Sooyoung’s face, after Jinsol joined them. Longing burning brightly whenever Jinsol isn’t looking. Remembers scratching at her locket, asking, _When do you think they’ll figure it out?_

There’s an armored holster in the belt Jungeun never takes off, guarded in Dorian tempered steel, near unbreakable. Inside of it a small necklace. She reaches for it, thumbs over the pendant. _They did figure it out_ , she says now. _Saved all of us along the way._

  
  
  


The landing on Aeolia is kind in its uneventfulness. 

Jungeun is listless already, red roof and screen door in sight. She’d instructed Jinsol to land as close to the house as possible; but as close as possible, for a ship, still means a soundsecond and a half away. Still too far, even now. 

“Your place?” Yeojin asks, once the hiss of the door closing behind them quiets down. They all walk awkwardly, gravity stronger and land softer than when they’re aboard the ship. 

Jungeun nods. “Not much, but—” she shrugs. “It’s home, I guess.”

A spaceship landing isn’t exactly quiet, so Jungeun isn’t surprised when their door swings open and a figure steps outside, curious and confused. Outline of light too familiar, a wedge in Jungeun’s throat. She would run, if she could. 

Luckily for her—

“Jungeun? Jungeun!” The figure runs in Jungeun’s stead. She’s laughing. It’s only a few seconds before she crashes into Jungeun and— _oh._

She’s left for dozens of missions, now, gone on adventures she can’t even count, but it always surprises her, the tension between her shoulder blades that melts, the unwinding of the hinge of her jaw. The threat of tears. Smell of soap and sesame oil. The adjusting of the rhythm of her heartbeat. 

There’s a collective gasp from the crew behind her. Heejin asks, “Who—”

“I’m Jiwoo! Nice to meet you.” She pulls away but keeps a hand in Jungeun’s, pulls until their shoulders are flush. “My Jungeunie here has a nasty habit of not telling her friends about me, so I bet you’re all surprised. I hope she wasn’t too much trouble.” She pinches Jungeun’s cheek, just then, and Jungeun can only look to her feet because—

A chorus of laughter, from everyone. A choked out, “ _No way_ ,” from Jinsol, and even Vivi has her hands on her knees, doubled over, veil of regality gone. 

“Jungeun’s _shackled!_ ” Sooyoung whoops, and Jungeun already knows the tips of her ears are as red as Ionian resin. Jiwoo chuckles from beside her, nudges her with her elbow. 

“Come,” Jiwoo urges, a tilt of her head in the house’s direction. “I’ll make _bibimbap_ for everyone.”

Jungeun looks back up, looks for Sooyoung immediately. Sees: an uncharacteristic surprised widening of her eyes. “You’re— _Earth?_ ” she exhales, as the laughter dies down. Jinsol’s hand moves to her back, soothing. “Korea?”

“ _That’s right_ ,” Jiwoo replies, in her and Sooyoung’s mother tongue. “ _Jungeun is, too!_ ”

“Jungeun?” Sooyoung sounds almost pained. “But—” Sooyoung uses two fingers to point to her own eyes. Probably referring to Jungeun’s—Jungeun’s left eye is grey and right eye is hazel, undeniable proof of her Locrian heritage. 

“ _Born on a spaceship, abandoned at a trading post in Cheongju_ ,” she says, now, too, in Korean. Shrugs. 

Hyunjin elbows Hyejoo. “I _told_ you Jungeun’s files were level ten encrypted,” she hisses through a clenched jaw. 

“ _Ow._ ” Hyejoo nurses the offended spot, winces. “I can’t crack anything beyond level six.” 

“Twelve, actually,” Jungeun supplies. “There’s a reason I’m still alive.”

Jiwoo laughs. “Let’s all get inside. I know you’re all hungry.”

  
  
  


Jiwoo, an ever-kind host, lets everyone step inside first, stays behind until they’ve all entered. 

Jungeun takes her chance. Pulls Jiwoo aside, only the two of them left out of the house. Takes her face in her hands and kisses her. Here: Jungeun’s breath finding its home underneath the roof of Jiwoo’s palate. Swallows the softness of her gorgeous mouth. Sates herself. The only touch she ever craves. 

When Jiwoo pulls from her, she leans her forehead on Jungeun’s. 

“Missed you,” Jungeun whispers. 

“You always do,” Jiwoo replies. Blossom of a smile. “And I always miss you, too.”

  
  
  
  


Dusk in Aeolia stretches for hours. Three suns would, of course, set for thrice as long. 

The light swallows everything when it comes through the windows, air that looks honeyed. Their dining table only sits four, at most, so they’re divided between the kitchen and the living room. 

Beside Jungeun, Sooyoung says, “I wish I could find a place like this.”

Space scares everyone. In different ways, but haunts a heart all the same. Maybe because of its darkness. Its vastness. Its emptiness. For Jungeun: its directionlessness. How it stretches infinitely everywhere. In a place like that, what _is_ left? What _is_ up? Do those concepts even exist? Is it even a place?

So this was her solution: a small house in the middle of an Aeolian savanna. Her focal point, her anchor. At least when she’s in space, there _is_ a direction for her. Back. Homeward. 

Jungeun knows that Sooyoung also has a part of space that shadows over her. You spend so long travelling through it, you’re not the same person you were before it all. But—

“You and Jiwoo,” Jungeun tells her. “Lost a home. Jiwoo said the same thing: that she had to _find_ one.”

Only a furrowed brow from Sooyoung. 

“I never had one, Sooyoung,” Jungeun says. “People who’ve never had homes—our first instinct isn’t to find one. What do we even look for?”

Sooyoung exhales. “What, then?”

Jungeun spares Jiwoo a glance. Watches the breadth of her back, the glimmer of her hair, the steadiness of her hand. Remembers how they’d saved up to buy a ship, visit all the planets like they’d promised. How they were here, on Aeolia, when Earth imploded in on itself. How Jungeun knew exactly what to do at that moment. 

“We build one ourselves.”

  
  
  


“I’m sorry if it tastes a little off,” Jiwoo says. “The plants here can only come so close.”

“No, it’s—” Sooyoung blinks and looks back at her bowl. Takes another spoonful. Seems to forget, after that, that she was saying anything at all. Beside her, Jinsol smiles, rubs at her back, places a kiss on her temple. 

“No wonder Jungeun’s so good,” Yeojin says, mouth full. “I mean, if this is what was waiting for me at home, I’d be amazing at my job, too.”

Vivi laughs, soft. Turns to Jiwoo and asks, “Isn’t it hard for you, though? Knowing how dangerous Jungeun’s jobs can get?”

“Oh, _you tell me_.” Jiwoo rolls her eyes and laughs as if it’s neighbourhood gossip. “Even with the location _and_ vitals tracker I have on her, I still get sick. But Jungeunie, you, know, she—”

Jiwoo faces Jungeun. Smiles, strokes her hand through Jungeun’s hair. “She always promises she’ll come home to me. And she never breaks her promises—right?”

This: the only thing that gets her through every brush she’s had with nothingness. Every time she suffers a blow, every time she gets compromised—this is what she thinks of, this is how she claws her way out of failures she can’t afford. Cheongju daybreaks and Aeolian twilights. The locket. The cadence of Jiwoo’s pulse. The warmth in her mouth. The strength of her heart. 

“That’s right,” Jungeun says. “I do.”

_ I’m waiting for our time, the oblique light, this pause between day and night. Peace will come, surely. But I can imagine no other peace than that of our two bodies bound together, of our gaze given over to each other - I have no other homeland but you[.](https://sodrurlion.tumblr.com/post/642786918197837824/acknowledgetheabsurd-im-waiting-for-you-im)_

**Author's Note:**

> title taken from rendezvous 18.6y, which along with number 1 and universe, i listened to on loop while writing this. [twitter](http://twitter.com/mediumcoelis), [curiouscat](http://curiouscat.me/pisceshorizon)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [i shall say good night till it be morrow](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29466495) by [invertedpyramids](https://archiveofourown.org/users/invertedpyramids/pseuds/invertedpyramids)




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